Experiment MMMY
I tried from ULTRA preset (loading the sim) [first photo on every set], changing it to MEDIUM preset, applying and then revert to ULTRA preset [second photo on every set], never touched the UserCfg.opt
(between SS i had to go, that’s why the sun is in a diff position and in this case, after applying the graphics settings, planes dissspeared).
I also tested climbing to 30,000’ and looking at the ground textures, nothing changed between graphic configs.
My sim crashed 2 mins after finished (sigh).